Placemat Bags

I made these for end of the year teacher gifts, I have made them for the last 4 birthday parties my kids were invited to and I have made about 15 others for various reasons lately and they are SO EASY! And as you can see, super cute too! 1st step: Go to Walmart and check out their placemats they have for $1.00. Also check the Dollar Stores. Find some ribbon that you like to go with it. Sew it on about 4 inches from the ends of the placemat. Just eyeball it. Then fold it together to make sure it's gonna line up. Sew up sides with sewing machine. Cut ribbon for the handle (again, eyeball it) MELT ENDS OF RIBBON WITH CANDLE so it doesn't fray and sew it to the top, glue on a fancy flower with either a brad, button or the original flower center and VOILA-you have a nifty gift/ bag/ scripture tote/ last minute teacher gift, etc, etc. (If these directions are too vague, I'll take pics of the steps next time I make one if somebody wants a tutorial.)

More Flowers!

It's a really good thing I have 3 girls so I can justify the 300 flowers I have in the house! Here are some of my latest flower creations. The ones in Katie's hair are actually attached to bobbie pins, I just realized I didn't take pictures of these ones. I love the bobby pin ones, sometimes it's nice to not have those huge clip things in your hair. The bobby pins work better in my hair that the clips. I'll try to upload a closeup pic of the bobby pins some other time. The demin one is just circles cut of demin, folded and layered with a button in the middle. Easy peasy.

Melted Silk Flowers

So this is my latest obsession. Katie said "Mom, let's try making those silk flowers that you melt the edges." And I was like "Sure, Ok, whatever". 435 melted circles later we are having a ball. I realize these are just about the worst pictures ever taken, but I have no pride, so I am posting them anyway. My 14 yr old, 10 yr old and even my 6 year old melted one. (Mackenzie only did one tiny corner and then I cut her off from the pyromania mania) This isn't exactly a tutorial, I didn't take a pic of everything. Basically, cut a roundish shape out of your silkish type fabric. Hold close to a burning candle and melt the edges until desired meltiness. Then hot glue your layers together and hot glue some beads/ jewel things in the middle. Add felt circle to the back and glue on pin/ and or hair clip. And VOILA. New fanciness to wear! I highly recommend everyone get in touch with their inner pyromaniac and try this! It's awesome!

Cards Xchange Cards

Ok Nikki-here ya go. These are the cards from my latest card exchange. Pretty cute. I do love card exchange night!

Birdies

I have been happily hopping thru blogland lately and saw these super cute birds in a nest and thought "THAT IS SO CUTE, I CAN TOTALLY MAKE THAT MYSELF. So I did. But the original birds are much cuter than mine. Sadly, mine resemble fat eels with beaks. But oh well. It was fun to make. Check out the original maker of this here:http://lemontreecreations.blogspot.com/2010/03/birdie-nest.html. Hers are way cuter.

Bird Card

This is my latest card for the card exchange. I kept running out of ribbon so I had to use about 12 different kinds. I also had fun with a water pen painting the birds.

Practically Free Matching Game

I made this little game for Mackenzie a few years ago using frozen juice can lids! All I did was wash them & save them until I had enough for a game, cut my photots into circles and glued onto the lids. I am wishing I had thought to use Mod Podge because a few of them have gotten yukky over time. We have started "Homemade Christmas" with one side of the family and I am going to start saving those lids again!